Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1887-06-23
All EXECUTION N AFRICA.

A correspondent Of the Baltimore
IS"nday American, who is member
Of Bishop TaylOr's band of Mission
aries, writing from st. Paul de Lo-
anda, thus describes an African exc.
cution
"As the Bishop and his party were
descending mountain they saw there
was a village below them. a market
place surrounded with a large num-
Der Of houses. 1t seemed as il all the
village people and many others from
the surrounding country had gather
ed in the market place. The Bishops
first impression was that some kind
of fair or general trading was in
progress. but as he came nearer he
saw that the event was not CONNER
cial. From bis elevated point of view
he could see that several natives were
at work digging holes in the centre Of
the market place. The attention Of
the crowd seemed to be divided be.
tween the hole and something else
that neither the Bishop nor his COM
panions could distinguish. The ma
tive carriers said it looked as if there
was to be a public execution, where
upon Mr.. Teter tried to see the gal.
lows and failed. An execution it
proved to be, however, but without a
scafFold. The native Africans have
a much more horrible form Of judicial
murder than hanging. The Bishop
and his party arrived at the market
place just as the tragedy was con-
eliminated. They learned the story
OF the crime that led to it, which brief.
ly was the following:
Two or three weeks before the
Bishops arrival, a man had died in
the village, and, as is frequently the
case, the medicine man had been sum.
moned to declare what, or rather who
had been the cause Of it. The doctor
after the usual demonstra atoms, orac.
ular utterances, frenzied dancing, and
other tomfoolry, had fixed the respon.
sibility for the death upon a captain
OF the tribe. The truth undoubtedly
was that this captain had done some
thing TO offend the doctor, who tool
this way Of getting even. The cap
tain was brought before the king, and
charged with the crime of bewitchine
the deceased. He denied the charge
and was then ordered to drink a CUP
of kind of tea made from the sass.
wood tree. 1t is a deadly poisonous
mixture. The medicine man tells the
king that if a man who is guilty
drinks Of it he will die: but an inno-
cent man will not be harmed. Who
ever drinks, of course, dies immedi-
ately in terrible agony. and the pres
hge OF the doctor is heightened ac-
cordingly. The captain in this in
stance refused to drink the tea. He
was sent away from the Kings pres
ence for day or two. pending the
further consideration of the case, but
that very night he was shot by an I'M
known man in his house. After six
days of suffering the captain died.
His friends besought the representa-.
tive Of the Free State Government to
interfere. but he hesitated. He was
new to the position, and dared not
take very decided measures. So the
king OF the tribe bestirred himself
The dead captain had been favorite
OF his, and the accusation of the doc.
tor had disturbed his majesty. Now
that the captain had been murdered.
he determined TO punish the criminal.
A man was arrested and tried for the
crime and found guilty. He was, of
course. condemned to death.
when the Bishop arrived the hole
IN the market place had been complst-
cd. 1t was somewhat larger and
deeper than an ordinary grave. The
object that had attracted the atten-
ton of part Of the crowd was the con.
demnsd man himself. He sat on the
ground with his hands tied behind his
back. Seven feet in front Of him was
q young tree that had been bent over
toward him. The top of the tree had
been cut away, so that fork made
by the two main branches remained
on the slender trunk. The condemn.
ed mans neck was put in this fork
and the ends of the lines were made
fast behind his head. The tension of
the tree kept constant strain on his
throat, not enough to strange him,
but enough to be painful, and to pre-
vent him from making any motion.
lie had been sitting thus for hours
watching the preparations for his ex.
eeution, and enduring the gaze of hum
dreds Of thu v;lla,ars NJ